Dealings with registered land under the land registration act, 1981

Abstract

The idea behind Land Registration is to incorporate all titles to immovable property in- a register which on its face reveals the position as to the ownership, charges and other burdens affecting the land. The purpose is to facilitate transfer of the land which, after it has been registered, can be dealt with by asimpler, safer, quicker, and cheaper process than would be otherwise possible. This is because the register acts as a mirror reflecting completely and irrefutably the current facts material to the title (except for overriding interests). Moreover, the title, once registered, is guaranteed by the State and in the rare circumstances where it can be overturned, the registered proprietor in good faith will be fully indemnified out of an insurance fund set up for the purpose. In 1981, the House of Representatives in Malta enacted as Act XXXV of that year, the Land Registration Act, "to establish a Land Registry to regulate the registration of titles to land and to make provision for matters incidental thereto and connected therewith." This Act replaces the "old" system of Registration of Deeds and, in its place, it introduces a new system which is essentially an adaptation of the administrative procedures of the English system while preserving the basic concepts and advantages first cutlined by Robert Torrens in South Australia in 1858.